Black Lodge Down
by SoCherryDarling
Summary: When Harry finally manages to catch a murderous Cooper, they call in two professional to help work out exactly what happened in the Black Lodge, and how to get Dale back. *a/n rated M for tw & themes*
1. Chapter 1

"I can't believe we actually got him."

Harry sank down heavily to the floor and let his head fall between his knees, suddenly light headed.

Inhaling deeply, trying hard not to let the shudder show, he glanced up at Hawk. "Is Audrey alright?"

Hawk nodded once, his mouth set, eyes far away. "Shook up. But unharmed. Andy's with her."

Harry smiled a little.

Andy had come a long way since becoming a father. Sure, sometimes he was still a little hapless, but he no longer lost it at the sight of blood or a dead body.

The smile slid from his face.

Too many dead bodies in Twin Peaks over the last year or so.

Even Andy had hardened himself to it.

Getting to his feet, Harry ran his hands through his hair and looked at Hawk.

"Make the call."

* * *

"Twin Peaks?"

Dean babied the impala around the sweeping mountain roads, his nose wrinkled into a slight grimace.

"Ass end of nowhere…. There'd better at least be a decent diner at the end of this road."

Sam ignored him and went back to reading through the file Bobby had sent him.

"Looks like this town's pretty hot when it comes to the supernatural."

"Yeah? So how come we've never even heard of it?"

"Well, Bobby said it's not really hunter supernatural. Vamps, shifters, werewolves, they avoid this place like the plague. They don't even get demon activity here." He frowned at the papers, flipping them and rereading passages.

"So I don't get it….. How is this place our thing when our _things _aren't here….?"

"Um…. It says here it's the central point to an ancient magic, before ….Well… Everything."

"Everything?"

"Yeah. Like, before God…."

They glanced at each other before turning back to their tasks.

Nether had to say a word.

All they could do was drive onwards and prepare themselves to meet something so old that it made Alphas afraid.

* * *

Audrey could hear him screaming.

No.

Not him.

_It._

She could hear It screaming.

It was hard to remember that the thing chained up wasn't Dale.

It wore Dales face and it spoke with his voice, but it wasn't him.

When she closed her eyes she could still see the twist in his mouth as he wrapped his hands around her throat, his grip strong enough to push her up the wall so that her feet had kicked uselessly in the air and all she could do was dig her fingers into his hands and try to breath.

She shivered and wrapped her arms tightly around her herself.

When they'd asked her to help she hadn't thought twice.

He'd killed so many.

First Annie, then Donna, Shelly, Major Briggs, Nadine….. They knew he'd come for her and she'd said yes. Even if they hadn't got there in time, even if she'd been his next victim, she'd still wanted to. Because to live in a world where the man you'd once looked up to was being used to kill, to do the one thing that went against everything he stood for…. It was no life at all.

She didn't want to be afraid anymore, to have to hide and know deep in her heart that it would only be a matter of time before he found her anyway.

Like a cornered prey animal she had stopped and turned.

When flight was no longer an option even the mildest creature will bare their teeth.

"Miss Horne? Are you ok?"

Audrey glanced up to see Andy stood over her, his brow knit with worry, twisting his usually mild expression.

"I'm ok Andy. Just a little….."

Another scream rang out, followed by laughter. High pitched maniacal hoots that seemed to bounce off the Book house walls.

It made her less afraid to see that Andy flinched as well, but the dark cloud that drifted across his face after worried her.

Andy was just as much of a cornered animal as she was.

* * *

Harry sat in the double R diner waiting. His fingers nervously tapping out rhythms on the oil cloth, a gone cold cup of coffee in front of him.

He hated this.

The depression that had settled over the town.

Even in here, voices were as hushed as those in a library.

Or a funeral home.

He remembered how Lauras death had shocked the town, how they'd seemed to pull together, comfort each other. This time though, the murders had only pushed them apart, made people suspicious, fearful of their friends and neighbours. The heart had left this community and in some ways, that made Harry angrier than the actual deaths.

"Sherriff Truman?"

He looked up to see two young men standing next to the table.

"The Winchester?"

Sam nodded. "I'm Sam, this is Dean….." He hesitated, waiting for the older man to say something, but he only shook his head and laughed dejectedly.

"You're just boys."

Dean began to puff himself up but Sam placed a warning hand on his chest before sitting down opposite Harry.

"I can assure you we've been in this business for a long time Sheriff. Not many things we haven't come across in our line of work."

"Hawks contact said he was sending the best."

"And he did." Dean sat next to Sam , looking across the room to catch the waitresses eye.

"Bobby said you'd need to fill us in more when we got here, but thought it sounded like a demon possession?"

Harry frowned at Sam and shook his head. "This is all kind of new to me boys. I don't know what it is, but it's scary and it's evil and I'm done with it terrorising my town and turning my friend into a monster."

He clenched his fists and turned away slightly as the waitress came over with her notebook.

"Coffee….. Three…. And uh.. You got any pie?"

"Cherry, Apple, Pecan or key Lime?"

Dean looked for a moment like he might not be able to answer, then seemed to mentally shake himself before deciding on cherry.

"Look… I just need to know. Can you help us? Because this is way out of my comfort zone."

"We can try." Sam said quietly. "Fill us in."

And so he did.

Harry started at the beginning, with the murder of Laura Palmer, the trail he and Cooper had followed to its bitter, black hearted end, and how the end had only been the start of a more vicious and violent chapter in Twin Peaks history.

"Coop was changed. I mean we all saw that, but I thought it was the black lodge, you know, like PTSD. But then the killings started again, and for a long time I didn't want to admit what I knew was happening. That he was killing them."

"It's common for demons to use their hosts to kill." Dean said through a mouthful of pie.

"Do they kill in patterns?"

Sam and dean glanced at each other. "Patterns?" Prompted Sam.

"Like a serial killer…"

"There was one…."

Dean clicked his fingers. "The freak in Coeur d'Alene, the one who wanted his demon back and blackmailed the Wiccan."

Sam shook his head. "Yeah but he already had the makings of a serial killer, the demon just, gave him a nudge."

Dean looked across at Harry. "That sound like your friend?"

"Coop? No way! He's the straightest good guy you ever met. There's not a bad bone in him! Shit, I never heard a bad word from him, wouldn't hurt a fly."

* * *

"Wouldn't hurt a fly, huh?"

Dean drove slowly behind the cruiser, bumping their way up the track into the forest.

"That's the line the neighbours always use when the police find ten corpses hidden in some dicks cellar."

"Yeah. Well it sounds like these guys worked pretty closely. Most serial killers are incredible private, but it sounds like this Cooper threw himself into small town life before…"

"Before he turned into Ted Bundy?"

Sam grimaced at him. "Dude. Lets try and remember that this guy is well liked here, enough so that they called for help rather than just put him down. Small town like this? Middle of nowhere? Law gets taken into their own hands"

Dean shrugged dismissively.

"I don't give a rats ass. Lets just get this over so we can get back to civilisation."

* * *

Dean noticed Sam's gaze taking in the library as they walked into the book house, and elbowed him.

"Poindexter…. Work first, nerdiness second."

"Can you feel that?" Sam whispered.

"Cold."

"…something else too…."

A small knot of people stood before them, watching them expectantly.

"Sam, Dean… This is Andy, Hawk, Albert and Audrey."

Albert turned to face Harry, scowling. "I hope to God you know what you're doing Truman. I'm still of the opinion that the best place for Agent Cooper is in Maximum Security psychiatric unit. I don't like the idea any more than you do but the fact remains, the man is insane and dangerous."

Harry lay a hand on Albert's shoulder and smiled sadly.

It was heartbreaking to see the denial in the mans eyes. The blustering way he demanded the convention of justice and medication. But it was a bluff, an act to protect himself.

"It's ok Albert. These guys are here to help."

"What the fuck is this." He snorted. "They're children. Just a couple of charlatans out for a quick buck."

"Hey! We don't charge." Dean cut in, offended.

"Even worse. Just in it for the sick thrills hey?"

They watched him pull his overcoat on and stalk out of the room.

"I'm sorry about Albert." Harry took his hat off and ran his hands through his hair. "He's not taking this well at all."

Sam smiled kindly. "It's ok. Um…. Shall we go take a look?"

* * *

_Special Agent Dale Cooper._

_That's who he was, or at least used to be._

_As he watched them enter the room there's a strained confliction in his chest._

_Dale wants out but he can't._

_No, no, no._

_We can't let that happen._

_Can't stop the party now._

_Not when things are just getting interesting._

_Dale gets to stay right where we want him._

_In that tiny corner of his mind, locked behind steel doors, while we hitch a ride._

_And what a ride._

_We've bathed in blood and lust and grown stronger by the day._

_Dale._

_Only striving to be the good man, but so much fear and darkness in his heart._

_So easy to take hold of it and claim it for us._

_Ahhhhh._

* * *

The creature chained to the chair, and it is a creature, it's eyes are flat, it's mouth twisted into a leer, regards them as they file in.

The brothers share a look.

This wasn't the usual kind of demon deal.

"Those chains…" Sam started.

"They were given to my people, long ago. No one remembers where they came from, but it was said that no being could escape them. Lucky for us, it seems the legend was right." Hawk folded his arms defensively, as though daring them to question him.

"I've never seen symbols like this before." Sam murmured.

"Word of God crap?"

Sam shook his head. "I don't know. I don't think so."

They all jump as it starts to hoot, powerful pulses that echo even though the books on the shelves around them should insulate the noise.

The rhythmic bellows fade into laughter, a low chuckle that builds up to a frenzied crescendo.

Audrey clapped her hands over her ears and bit down on her lip to hold back the sob welling in her throat.

Andy looked like his legs might buckle, his hand clutching at his holster, knuckles bone white, mouth trembling.

Harry and Hawk just set their faces to neutral, and Dean was pleased to see that at least two of them were professional enough to do what needed to be done.

He saw Sam look over at him.

He didn't need to say a word, his face was ashen, his head inclined.

_Can we do this?_

Dean shrugged.

_Give it a go._

Holding his hand up like a priest, Sam closed his eyes and started the exorcism.

_Exorcizamus te, omnis immundus spiritus_

_omnis satanica potestas, omnis incursio_

_infernalis adversarii, omnis legio,_

_omnis congregatio et secta diabolica._

Cooper bucked against his chains howling with rage, his eyes milky, like a week old corpse, the veins in his neck standing out, pulsating.

_Ergo draco maledicte _

_et omnis legio diabolica_

_adjuramus te._

_Cessa decipere humanas creaturas,_

_eisque aeternae Perditionis venenum propinare. _

The thing in the chair stilled then turned its terrible gaze upon Sam, a low chuckle bubbling up from it's chest.

"Boy." It drooled, it's head lolling as it cast it's eyes on them all. "Pretty words….. Pretty, pretty, pretty.

Pretty words mean nothing to me. I like pretty throats to clutch, pretty screams to hear. Pretty words are useless to one who wants to bathe in blood.

But you know that… Boy… you know the song of blood….. Ahhhhh….. It calls to you too…."

It cackled raspily and Dean automatically took a step in front of Sam.

"Let me bathe in the blood of the world. I came from blood. I'll return to blood. Your words can't do a thing. Do you know what you've done? You stopped me feeding….. Pretty girl…" He stared at Audrey and ran his swollen tongue over his lips. "….. So pretty. When I'm free I'll drink your blood and take you to the Black Lodge. Alllllll your friends are waiting there for you…"

Dean looked across to the girl who stood, mesmerised, like a rabbit in the headlights. Too terrified to look away.

Sam jerked his head towards the door and they stepped out of the room.

"What the hell?" Dean raked his hands through his hair.

"I know. I've never seen a demon like it. It's like, primeval…. Like basic hate…"

"What?"

"Look. You know how a demon is essentially just a twisted human soul right?"

"Yeah."

"Well. I don't think that thing was ever human."

"But the signs? Possession? Killing? Being held by those chains…. "

"We don't know what the chains are Dean…. Those aren't demon sigils, or angelic… Honestly, I've never seen anything like them."

Sam shot a worried glance over Deans shoulder towards the room as laughter swelled and boomed in there again.

"We can't do this alone."

"You mean Cas?"

He nodded.

"He might know something, point us in the right direction anyway….."

Harry appeared besides them and Dean noticed how pale and drawn he looked. Like he hadn't slept for days.

"So. Can you help?" The plea in his voice was undisguised. He may just as well have broken down and begged them to give him his friend back.

Sam patted him on the shoulder. "We're gonna try Sherriff. We need back up though."

A commotion from the other end of the book house made them all look up as Albert strode in, pointing over his shoulder.

"This asshole with you guys?"

A grateful smile spread across Deans face.

"Cas."

"Hello Dean."


	2. Chapter 2

Castiel stood facing Dale, taking a moment to read the energy in the room.

The creature before him seemed to sap the warmth from the wooden building and even though there were windows, no light dared join them.

"You're not a demon." He said at last, frowning at it, his head tilted slightly as though trying to figure him out. "I don't understand what you are."

Dales shoulders began to shake with laughter then abruptly stopped, his breath panting from him like a dog in the hot sun, a long, slow string of drool escaped his grinning mouth.

"Not heaven or hell borne, _Angel_…" He spat the last word as though it tasted bitter on his tongue.

"Older then."

"Ancient."

Cas walked slowly around the room, keeping his eyes on Dale, who didn't seem to feel the need to do the same.

Straining against the chains he began to howl, long low notes of distress, and from somewhere deep in the forest a wolf picked it up and carried it further.

"You're no werewolf either." Cas said flatly as Dale chuckled deep and rasping in reply.

"I'm nothing, boy."

"Well quite clearly you're something." Cas muttered, more to himself than Dale, while he rolled up his sleeve.

The thing in the chair rolled it's eyes and giggled shrilly. "I wouldn't do that. I'll suck the grace from you like marrow from a bone."

Castiel hesitated then pressed on.

It was a risk he needed to take, there was no other way of knowing.

Pressing his left hand to Dale's forehead, he slowly pushed his right into its chest, grace blazing from the entry as he moved forwards.

Dale only laughed as the angel fished around, looking for something.

"You like to play with fire little one?" He purred.

Castiels eyes widened as the light from his grace faded, and flames started to lick their way up his arm.

It hooted in triumph as he tried to pull free of it's chest, pushing against its head, legs kicking at the floor as the flames crept higher up his arm, biting at his face.

Dale cocked his head and smiled, wide and predatory. "You don't like my fire? You never played with matches? Tell me angel… How does it feel? Can you feel your flesh crisping? Can you feel your grace burning away?"

With a cry, Cas wrenched himself free, falling backwards and sliding across the room until coming to rest against the shelf lined wall, books raining down on his head.

Dean and Harry burst in, guns raised.

"Cas!" Dean fell to his knees next to the angel and went to touch his smouldering arm, pulling back with a hiss as he burned his fingers. "Jesus! Cas! What happened?"

"I need to rest." He murmured, letting Dean and Harry pull him up.

"You play with fire, you gonna get buuurrrned angel!"

They ignored it, locking the door on the shrill cackles and obscenities that began to pour from it's mouth.

* * *

Hawk stood watch over Castiel, his arms crossed tightly over his chest, face set in concentration.

He watched the tiny threads of blue white light that coiled around his burned arm and crept up his face to heal the fires damage.

When he had been very small his grandfather had told him of spirits who could do this, who would cross over from the white lodge to help men, who had the power to heal, and the power to kill.

But now he was looking at one of them, he wasn't so sure.

There was no doubt that this being, Castiel they called him, was more than a man, but was he of the white lodge?

Hawk didn't think so.

"He doing ok?" Harry said quietly as he came to stand next to Hawk.

"I think so. He seems to be healing himself."

Harry shook his head in amazement. "I'm having a hard time with all this Hawk. I really am."

He turned his stern face to the sheriff and placed his hand on his shoulder. "If it's any comfort, I am too."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

Harry half laughed, biting down on a scared sob, and nodded.

* * *

"What the hell is it?"

Dean paced up and down outside the book house, full of frantic energy, not sure what to do with his hands. One second thrusting them in his pockets, the next, raking them through his hair.

"What kind of monster could do _that _to Cas! The guy's lying in their looking like he was deep fried and that _thing _doesn't have a mark on it!"

Sam lent against the impala deep in thought.

The way it had repelled Cas was frightening. They hadn't come up against anything like this since Lucifer, something capable of flicking away an angel as though it were a bothersome fly.

"Excuse me?"

They both looked up to see Audrey, standing a little way off them, smiling uncertainly.

"I wondered, would either of you be able to drive me back to town? I don't think I'm much help here, and Sherriff Truman wants everyone else to stay, so…" She looked down at her shoes and twisted the edge of the blanket ,she still had draped across her shoulders, through her fingers nervously.

"I'll take you." Sam said, then looked across at Dean. "You keep an eye on Cas. There's no cell reception up here so I could do with going back to town and calling Bobby."

With a grunt, Dean tossed the car keys at his brother, then stalked off inside.

Sam noticed Audrey's anxious expression, and smiled kindly at her. "Don't take any notice of him, he's just worried about Cas."

She smiled back weakly before slipping into the passenger seat.

All she wanted to do was go home.

* * *

Andy stood outside the door, trying to be fearless.

He knew he wasn't the smartest or the bravest, but he tried, he tried so hard, and he knew that Hawk and Sherriff Truman wouldn't have asked him to stand here if they thought he couldn't handle it.

But he _was _afraid.

And every time Agent Cooper made a noise, he just about pissed in his pants.

"Andy….."

He screwed up his face and stood firm, his feet slightly apart.

"Hey Andy… The brat's not yours you know….. Lucy likes to pretend you're it's Dad but you're not."

"I don't care." He muttered under his breath.

"Cute kid…. Cute kid…. I could eat him up…"

More braying laughter erupted from the room, but Andy stood firm. He stood firm for Lucy, for the baby, but most importantly, he stood there for himself.

The laughter stopped and in it's place Andy could hear soft weeping.

Frowning, he pressed his ear to the door.

"Oh God…. Oh God….. Make it stop…."

Andy's heart seemed to pause, he held his breath, eye's widening in alarm.

"Oh God… Andy? Andy? Anyone…. Please… Help!"

"Agent Cooper?" He said quietly.

The weeping stopped and the voice floated through again, louder this time.

"Andy! Yes! It's me… It's Dale…. You've got to help me Andy! I think it's gone, it's not in me anymore, but you have to let me out before it comes back…"

"I don't know Agent Cooper….. I should go get Sherriff Truman…."

"Andy there's no time! He'll be back soon… Oh God Andy!… he's hurting me so much…" A pitiful wail drifted through the door and automatically he put his hand on the door handle.

Hawks hand closed over his and he looked up in alarm.

"It was… I wasn't…."

"It's ok Andy. I know…. Go see Harry. He wants you to look after the other guy."

A shrill scream of rage made them both jump.

"Fucking cunt! You cock sucker! I'll peel your skin from you layer by layer when I get out of this… and I will, don't you worry! I'll get out of this and I'll violate everything you ever loved!"

Hawk carefully prised Andys fingers off the door knob and nodded at him.

"Go."

* * *

Sam was happier once the impala was off the rough dirt track and back on the road. He didn't want to have to explain a dent or worse, to an already hair trigger Dean.

Audrey stayed silent for most of the ride.

Occasionally he glanced across at her. She stared straight ahead, her lips pressed together bloodlessly, her skin pale in contrast to her dark, almost black hair.

The spots of high colour on her cheeks could be thought of as healthy looking, but Sam thought she looked almost feverish and the way she hugged the blanket around her seemed to confirm it.

"Where can I drop you?"

She shrugged. "Just in town. I can walk."

"That's ok, I'll take you home. Just tell me where to turn, I don't know this area."

Audrey nodded noncommittally and sighed.

"Look. We'll help Dale. We just need to work out what it is that's possessing him."

She turned to him then and frowned.

"How do you even know he's possessed?"

Sam was taken aback. He glanced at her before looking back at the road. "What do you mean?"

"You know what Sam? Agent Cooper was a lot like Lauras Father."

He noticed her talking in the past tense but didn't correct her. "Ah.. Leland Palmer? Right?"

She nodded. "He was a happy guy, a straight down the centre guy everyone loved and respected….. But he had a darkness in him. I don't think even he knew how dark it was. And Agent Cooper had it as well."

She turned back to the road and bit hard on her lip, trying to still the quivering there.

"I think they called out to whatever it is that made them do those terrible things….. But I think the capacity to do them was already there."

* * *

Castiel blinked and tried to sit up.

His arm and face still tingled and itched, but he was mostly healed. He held his right arm up and turned it, inspecting the skin for damage and finding none.

"You're a awake."

He looked up to see Dean and Harry watching him nervously.

Dean slapped him on the arm and smiled tightly. "Thought you'd met your match there Cas."

He shook his head.

"No. It's strong, but I managed to repel it… a little."

"So. Do we know what it is?"

Cas shook his head and sat up gingerly, flexing his fingers as the feeling came back into them. "It's older than angels, that's all I can say for certain. But, there's something else…"

He shivered at the memory, of what his fingers had felt.

"It's his soul…."

"Coops?" Harry frowned, leaning closer.

Cas nodded. "It's being eaten away by whatever's inside him. It's like a parasite, and when it's finished, when it's consumed his soul completely… It moves on."


	3. Chapter 3

Sometimes, Dale could feel what it was doing.

He was never full aware, even when Castiel had thrust his hand through his skin, he'd never felt the intrusion, rather, it was a slow fog of thoughts and feelings that surrounded him. The dark curls of anger, the spikes of hideous, gleeful rage that Bob smothered him with.

Now though, he wasn't there.

He was back in the red room.

Sat in the leather chair, watching the dwarf watching him.

The strange, dreamlike fug made the air seem dense, syrupy, every movement took a monumental effort to execute.

Laura was here again.

The real Laura, not the twisted version of her who screamed and flailed with impotent rage, but the sweet girl who'd fought for so long against all the demons life threw at her.

She didn't talk so much now.

They all knew who killed her, so she simply stayed mute, only inclining her head occasionally and smiling.

And now Dale knew why it had been such an effort to communicate with him.

He watched her eyes shimmer with unshed tears, watched the sadness and dumb resignation behind her smile, and realised he was nearly there. That soon, he'd have no link with his body anymore, and his existence would be lived out in the red room.

The air would always choke him. The coffee would always thicken. The words would forget how to be spoken, and he'd start to live his life backwards.

She nodded at him.

He nodded back.

* * *

Sam was more than a little bemused at the fact Audrey walked right into the hotel lobby, ashen faced, a blanket still held tightly around her shoulders, and no one so much as glanced at her.

"Do you want me to find your parents?" He asked, following her through the lobby and up a grand flight of stairs.

He caught her up in time to hear her mutter. "They don't even know I was gone."

Something caught a little in his chest at her words.

No.

More than the words, it was the tone she used.

A flat, resigned tone. She had long ago stopped expecting anything other than this from her parents.

He could empathise with the feeling. If you plucked her from this gilded cage and put her in some seedy motel, the base notes would remain the same.

Same song, different tune.

Audrey glanced over her shoulder at him.

"You planning on following me all the way up?"

He nodded, suddenly anxious to walk this girl all the way to the safety of her room. He knew the real danger was still chained up in the Book house, but there was something in the strange, calm detachment of her manner that made him feel protective in a way he wouldn't have if she'd been crying or vulnerable looking.

Perhaps it was the very fact she seemed to wearily accept everything that that worried him.

He'd seen his father and Dean shut down like this, and it tore him up to see the girl do the same.

She just shrugged at him and opened the large double doors leading into the Hornes living space.

As they walked through he noticed someone sitting in the corner, facing the wall.

He wore an ill fitting suit, a cheap costume head dress sat on his head.

"My brother. Johnny." Audrey said, shedding the blanket and opening a drawer in the massive dresser, pulling out a packet of cigarettes.

She offered him one and he held his hand up, no.

Lighting it, she inhaled deeply, then tossed the packet back in the drawer as she exhaled, blowing the smoke away from Sam.

"I needed that." She smiled, and he caught the tiny manic edge to her voice. "You can go now. Sherriff Truman has my number. He'll call if he needs me."

Sam hesitated.

He didn't want to leave, but there really was no reason to stay.

"OK… um .. Look." He pulled out a card. "Here's my cell, and Deans. If you need to…."

"Thanks."

She plucked the card from his fingers and smiled tightly up at him.

"I'm really tired now, so…"

"Of course."

He watched her walk through another door and close it softly behind her, then turned to go.

"He can't get back you know…."

Sam looked over to where Johnny was sitting.

"I'm sorry?"

The boy…. No.. he realised suddenly, he wasn't a boy, was probably as old as he was, Johnny, still had his back to him and was rocking quietly, running a toy car up and down the wall.

"She told me. She told me…. She told me that you can't come back."

Sam crouched down near him, frowning. "Who told you Johnny?"

"Laura…" He threw his head back and shouted, "LAAUUURAAAAH!" Then nodded violently to himself before going back to his toy car.

Sam thought for a moment.

It was hard to line all the facts of this case up.

It seemed like the only people who really knew what was going on where either dead or possessed.

"Is…ah… Laura with Dale? With Agent Cooper?"

Johnny began to softly knock his forehead against the wall.

"She said….. Said…. Laura said…. Uh… the room is red, it's a red room and he won't let them out. No sir… no one."

"Who? Who won't let them out?"

Johnny hit his head harder and Sam flinched.

"Mustn't play with matches. No Johnny, don't play with matches. You could get burnt … don't play with them…." He whispered furiously.

Sam stood up and watched as Johnny ran the toy car back up the wall again.

He needed to talk to Bobby.

* * *

"Bottom line this for me Cas? Is this a demon or what?"

Castiel shook his head.

"No. Demons are just twisted human souls. This thing isn't human, never was human. It's older than anything I've ever seen."

"Older than angels?"

"Yes."

Dean paced across the room then turned back to Cas. "Ok…How do we gank it?"

"I don't know."

"What do you mean you don't know? You're a fricken angel aren't you? You guys have all the answers."

"Not this one."

"What are you saying?"

Castiel sighed and frowned at Dean, a deep, irritated grove appearing between his eyes.

"What do you want me to say Dean? There are things older than angels, older than God even. Just because we know some of the universes secrets doesn't mean we know them all."

Dean threw his hands up in frustration and grunted in disgust. "Well…. A fat lot of good you are!"

The air moved around him abruptly, and Cas was gone.

"I think you hurt his feelings." Hawk said, leaning against the door frame and shaking his head sadly.

"Ah, bite me."

* * *

"Did you get a picture of the chains?"

"Yeah. Sending it to you now."

Sam stood outside the hotel, finally able to get enough signal to call Bobby.

"You seen anything like that before?"

"I don't think so." Bobby said carefully. "I'll see what I can drag up. The symbols could be Mesopotamian, but I'm not sure. I'll call you back."

"I'll call you. There's zero reception up here. I'll check in, in a couple of hours."

Sam hung up and pushed the phone into his pocket before leaning back against the car.

He'd always prided himself on being able to search out that vital piece of information. The key part of the puzzle that made everything else fit into place, but this?

He was stumped.

Constantly finding himself turned around.

He found himself wishing this was just another vamp hunt or spirit to lay to rest.

It felt to him like the whole town was dirty, tainted, and everyone had a part to play, but no one had any idea that they were even in the game.

* * *

Andy couldn't remember walking into the room, but he remembered leaning down so that Dale could whisper hotly in his ear.

Soft silky words, doled out with a smile wide enough to make a Cheshire cat jealous, and all the time, tears coursed down Andy's face.

Huge, hot tears of pure anguish.

Dale kissed him softly behind the ear and chuckled. "Go."

Andy nodded, and shakily made his way out of the room.

Harry saw him leave the Book house, called out after him, but the deputy didn't respond.

As he followed him, he could hear Dale laughing hoarsely.

The laughter grated more than the screaming, and Harry had to grit his teeth to stop himself shouting at it.

Moving through the doorway, he found Andy stood outside, his gun pressed to his temple.

"Whoa! Andy….. Andy, put the gun down."

He made no indication of having heard Harry at all. He was sobbing noisily, his face screwed up like a childs, cheeks shining with tears.

Harry heard the others coming up behind him and put his hand out to stay them.

Inching forwards, he held put a hand to Andy.

"Come on Andy. Look at me…. Look at me buddy….. Give me the gun, ok? Just hand me the gun before something happens."

"It already did Sherriff." He wept, clicking the safety off.

Harry swallowed hard and moved around to Andy's right, wanting to get in a position to reach the gun easily.

"Come on Andy. This isn't you. Think about this….. Think about Lucy and little Andy…."

As the words left his lips he knew he'd messed up.

Andy's eye's went clear, cold.

He knew exactly what he was doing.

"I am, Sherriff Truman." He said steadily, then pulled the trigger.

Harry leapt forwards, as though he could stop the bullet, screaming at Andy.

But he was already on the ground, blood pooling around his ruined head, his eyes glazed.

"Jesus Christ" Breathed Dean as Harry sank to his knees, his hands hovering above Andy's head, not knowing if he should try and do something.

"Truman….Truman, he's gone…" Albert was at his side, pulling him up and away from Andy's body.

Harry gripped a hold of Alberts over coat and bellowed in rage and grief, an inhuman noise dragged up from his belly while Albert just held him, pulled him close, keeping the man on his feet. "It's ok. It's ok." He said over and over.

* * *

Audrey stubbed out her cigarette and sank back in the chair, looking out of the window at the water rushing away from the falls below.

For the first time since Laura died, Audrey felt a moment of clarity.

Once, a million years ago, she'd wanted to help a man.

In the beginning, it was only so that man would notice her. She played a game of make believe that landed her in more trouble than she could have dreamed of, but he'd been there.

Her Special Agent.

And then he'd made her see that it wasn't his love that she wanted, but his friendship.

For a girl who had known little of either, his gift to her had been more precious than anything her father might have thrown at her in a fit of guilt.

He made her feel loved without asking for a thing in return.

And now he was trapped.

The thing in the chair, wearing his face, had stolen him.

And she meant to take him back.


End file.
